Pokemon: Redemption
by thejazzienerd
Summary: "I'm a loner. Always have been, always will be. I learned the hard way that you can't trust anyone but yourself. And that's the way I like it." AU, character-driven.


She was in trouble. She'd known those cliffs were Salamence territory, but she'd let hunger drive her there. Now, if she weren't careful, she'd end up as prey, rather than predator. She could hear the one dragon Pokémon above her, roaring as it closed in for the kill.

She sprinted on, dodging between trees to try and lose it, but the forest was not particularly thick here, and the Salamence could see her just fine from the air.

No other wild Pokémon were around. The family of Salamence that lived on those cliffs were by far the strongest Pokémon in the area, and they were always hungry. She was a wanderer and hadn't been in the area for very long, but she'd been around long enough to know the stories of "Lord" Salamence, who ruled over the forest with an iron fist and empty stomach. No Pokémon would dare get in his way, not even the pair of Mamoswine, who could probably defeat him with a single Icicle Crash. Even they were too afraid of ending up on the menu.

So she had no one to rely on in this situation but herself. Nothing unusual. She'd been on her own for nearly a year now. Life had taught her the hard way that that was for the best.

She burst out of the trees and into a small clearing, getting ready to turn and fight as she did. Before she could even pinpoint her opponent, a whirlwind lifted her into the air and dropped her.

She slammed into the ground and heard something snap. _Not good,_ she thought. She tried to stand, but a spasm of pain shot through her leg, and she staggered. The Salamence landed in front of her. He was massive, quite a bit larger than a normal Salamence. It was clear why he was head of his family.

"Twister?" she snarled, biting back the pain. "That was a cheap shot."

"I don't care," he scoffed. "Give up, and I'll make it quick."

"Bite me!"

"You're in no condition to be fighting. That leg looks broken to me."

She thought fast. Her only chance was to deal a lot of damage very quickly. She'd have the element of surprise initially, but once the battle began, he would take off, and her options would become very limited, not to mention that he would have greater mobility and would be faster in the air than she was on the ground, even if her leg weren't broken.

She thought over her options. Neutral or resisted moves wouldn't do enough. She'd never pull off a Play Rough in her current condition. Her Stone Edge had an unfortunate tendency to miss at the most inopportune times. And her Ice Beam was way too weak to take him out.

"That doesn't mean I'm just going to stand here and wait to be eaten. Ice Beam!"

The attack connected, but Salamence took the hit easily. She cursed under her breath, wondering for the umpteenth time why her species was so bad at Special attacks.

Salamence leapt into the air and fired a Dragon Pulse down at her. With her leg broken, dodging was out of the question, and it hit her cleanly. She screamed as the dragon fire, quite a bit stronger than normal fire, engulfed her. She collapsed onto her side, her sickle digging into the dirt.

She knew this was the end. She'd always known it was only a matter of time. Death would come for her, as it did for all. And deep down inside, she knew she wouldn't go peacefully from old age. Pokémon with her lifestyle didn't live that long.

She saw Salamence land beside her. He lunged, aiming for her throat. She closed her eyes in spite of herself.

She'd never been very religious, but now she found herself praying. Her last thought before darkness claimed her was _Arceus, be merciful to me…_

* * *

The first thing she was aware of was a lingering dull pain in her leg. The second was that otherwise she was extremely comfortable, surrounded by…softness. This was a foreign sensation to her. For most of her life, she'd counted herself lucky if she'd been able to find a nice grassy or mossy place to sleep in that was also sufficiently sheltered that she could rest without worry.

She wasn't particularly keen on opening her eyes. She didn't want to acknowledge…

She was lucid enough to realize that the continuing pain in her leg meant that she was still alive, and that meant someone had saved her. She cringed a little internally. The last time someone had "saved" her…well, he hadn't done it out of the goodness of his heart.

Finally, though, curiosity won out. She opened her eyes…

…and found herself in the strangest place she'd ever seen. She was lying on a cushion in front of a small alcove blocked off by a grate. It smelled like smoke. The rest of the room was filled with objects she couldn't possibly describe. Some were wood. Others were made of unidentifiable materials that definitely weren't natural. Looking around at this stuff, she could come to only one conclusion. Her rescuer was a human. (Her previous experience with humans amounted to one incident when she had gone digging through a man's garbage and he'd responded by ordering his Growlithe to attack her. As a result, she had never seen things like furniture or fireplaces and had no clue what they were.)

This was bad. She'd heard horror stories from other Pokémon she'd met on her travels. She'd heard about how humans kept Pokémon prisoner inside little tiny balls and only let them out when they intended to force them to fight one another. She wondered if ending up as Salamence food might have been preferable to this new situation.

* * *

The next time she woke up, _he_ was in the room, sitting on one of the objects and watching her. When he saw she was awake, he stood up and slowly moved toward her. She made a growling noise deep in her throat, warning him away.

He stopped and held his hand out toward her, palm down.

She leapt off the cushion, or tried to, but her injured leg crumpled underneath her as soon as she put her weight on it. He rushed towards her as she collapsed.

" Release me," she snarled. "Let me go." But of course, he didn't understand her.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Absol," he said, holding his hands away from her as though he was fighting back the urge to touch her fur. "My Pokémon and I found you when that Salamence was trying to eat you. We fought it off and brought you back here to heal. Your leg is broken," he added, pointing to the limb in question. "I'm afraid you're not going much of anywhere until it heals."

She looked at where he was pointing. A piece of wood had been pressed against it and secured with blue tape.

"I splinted it so it can heal," he explained. "But you need to stay off it. I'm afraid this is the best I can do way out here."

He half-lifted, half-dragged her back to the cushion, and she let him, having been forced to acknowledge that he was right. She wouldn't be going anywhere until her leg healed.

She rested her head on her paws and sighed. Her leg held her prisoner here more than any chains.

* * *

He came back into the room later. Unable to see the sun from her position, she had no way of knowing how long it had been.

"Hey, Absol," he said.

"Leave me alone," she muttered, turning her head away from him.

He didn't understand her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Would you be okay in my situation?" she snarled.

"I wish I could understand you," he said. "I know!"

He pulled out several small red-and-white objects and threw them into the air, shouting "Come on out, guys!"

Red beams of light came from each, materializing into several Pokémon. First was a bipedal, yellow, foxlike one. Then a green humanoid with flowers for hands. The next was a grey-and-white bird with a somewhat intimidating look to it, followed by a cream-colored fox with nine tails. The last was small, quadrupedal, blue, and had gills on its cheeks.

Despite none of them being native to the region, she was familiar with each of these species. During her travels, she had encountered each of these, or its pre-evolved form, and, if nothing else, could apply names to them. Alakazam, Roserade, Staraptor, Ninetales, and Mudkip.

"I'll let you all get to know one another," the human said, leaving.

"Hi," the Alakazam said. "Welcome to the team."

"I am _not_ part of your team," she snarled, starting to stand up and then remembering why she needed to stay off her leg.

"Sorry," the Alakazam said.

"Anyway," the Roserade broke in. "Name's Masque." Surprisingly, it was a male.

"Breeze," said the Staraptor, raising a wing.

"Mystic," the Ninetales added softly, sitting down and curling her tails around herself.

"I'm Kippy," the little Mudkip said eagerly.

"Kippy?" she asked.

"Andy thinks she's too young for a real nickname," explained the Alakazam.

"Andy?" she asked.

"Our Trainer," said Masque.

 _Captor_ , she silently corrected. She felt sorry for all of them, an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time. Particularly for Kippy. She was so young to be condemned to this sort of existence.

"Do you have a name like they do?" she asked the Alakazam.

He closed his eyes, as though he'd hoped she wouldn't ask.

"It's Silver," he said.

"Silver?" she asked, somewhat confused.

"It's short for 'Silverware,'" he said, indicating the objects in his hands.

She still didn't understand.

"Silver was Andy's first Pokémon. He couldn't come up with a good nickname for him, so he picked something…descriptive." That was Breeze, breaking into the conversation.

"And embarrassing," Silver added.

She still didn't understand.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject. "I can't understand why you listen to him."

"Well," Silver said. "He's our Trainer."

"And he's a friend," Mystic added.

"But why do you submit to him? Why do you let him control you?"

"Kippy, go in the other room," Silver suddenly said.

"Why?"

"This is grown-up conversation. You're too young."

"No fair, Uncle Silver!" But she went.

"Anyway," Masque said. "We're not under anyone's control."

"We're the ones with powers," Breeze chimed in.

"We're better off with him," Mystic added.

"Do you know how many moves Abra can learn in the wild?" Silver asked.

"No."

"Aside from what we might inherit from our parents, one. And that's Teleport. Andy trained me. He made me strong, helped me learn more moves. Without him, I'd be just another weakling."

"Abra are not weak."

"Maybe not, but they can't make use of what strength they have without a Trainer to teach them. Besides, Kadabra can't evolve in the wild."

She remembered once overhearing two Kadabra complaining about how they couldn't evolve without a human's help.

"As for me," Breeze said. "my species evolves through experience. We don't have any special hoops to jump through like these guys. But it's harder than you'd think to accumulate that experience when you're your own Trainer."

"I manage just fine."

"You also don't evolve," Masque chimed in. "I could have evolved in the wild. I was born a Roselia, not a Budew, and Shiny Stones aren't _that_ rare, but it's dangerous to be a Grass-type out there. I'm a lot safer since the boss caught me."

"What about you, Mystic? What's your story?" she asked.

"For a long time, I was just fine in the wild," the Ninetales began. "I never had a hugely difficult time finding food, or avoiding Pokémon who'd want to eat me. But what I really wanted was to evolve. Fire Stones are the rarest kind of evolution stone, you know.

"I wasn't hugely happy when I was caught, but then Master helped me evolve, and, well, how long do you think I'd survive in the wild with these slowing me down?" She indicated her tails. "Master helped me learn how to battle so my tails didn't get in my way. I owe him for that."

"He keeps you locked up inside little tiny balls!" she pointed out.

"We can let ourselves out whenever we please," Breeze said.

She tried again. "He took Kippy from her family!"

"Actually, he raised Kippy from an egg," Masque corrected. "She sees him as her father."

They all seemed to really care about their Trainer. She thought a little and one memory in particular came back to her. One night, several months ago, she'd gone to sleep for the night in a cave that happened to belong to a family of Mightyena, who'd been out at the time. When they came back and found her in their home, much to her surprise, they'd been quite welcoming and let her stay. She remembered listening to the father Mightyena telling the cubs about the humans who would come to the forest, kidnapping and enslaving Pokémon. One of the cubs had asked why the Pokémon didn't just escape. The father's response came back to her now.

"If a captive is well treated, he may sometimes forget he's a captive."

She guessed that was what had happened to these poor Pokémon, or at least the four older ones. Kippy hadn't known any other life.

She sighed. Was she going to be brainwashed into obedience the same as they had been?

* * *

Days passed. Mostly, she just slept, waiting for her leg to heal. As soon as it did, she would reclaim her freedom, by force if necessary. She had no qualms about attacking Andy, and any of the Pokémon who got in her way, if that was what it took to escape. Her fellow captives (she was beginning to find it impossible to think of Andy's Pokémon in any other way) usually came around to talk to her in the evenings. She learned the names of the objects in the room. Couch, chair, fireplace, television, etc. But mostly, she asked about Andy, always in ways that would make it seem as though she was considering joining the team, rather than simply sizing up her captor and trying to come up with the best way to force him to free her.

She learned that Andy was nineteen years old. He was originally from Hoenn, but had been visiting relatives in Kalos for his sixteenth birthday when he decided he wanted to be a Trainer. He hadn't followed the typical Trainer route. Silver had been his first Pokémon; he'd completely foregone getting a starter from the region's Pokémon Professor. He'd challenged the Gyms, but only to test the strength of his team. He had no interest in facing the Elite Four. He also took very good care of his Pokémon, feeding them things they would've eaten in the wild whenever possible, as opposed to the mass-produced Pokémon Food that a lot of Trainers used. He also let them walk outside of their Pokeballs whenever he could, even when traveling. This cabin was his uncle's largely unused mountain house, which he had turned into a home base.

Silver and Kippy seemed the most inclined to spend time talking with her. Kippy was intrigued by the cold, aloof stranger, while Silver found himself strangely attracted to the Absol, despite knowing full well that they couldn't breed.

"Why do you hate humans, Absol?" Kippy asked one day.

"It's not just me. Most wild Pokémon aren't particularly fond of them."

"But why?"

"Because they've taken so many of us from our families. Just about everyone I've met in my life lost a child or a friend or a parent to a human with a Pokeball, or knew someone who had."

"But Silver and Breeze and Mystic all said they wanted to be caught."

"Because they wanted to get stronger and knew that a human Trainer could give them that. A fair number of Pokémon do allow themselves to be captured, but their sole motivation is to get stronger. They see humans as a means to that end, essentially as tools, and expect the human to have a similar mindset. Ask the others what they'd expected when they were first caught."

"Daddy doesn't treat us that way," Kippy insisted. "He's _nice_."

* * *

She waited until everyone was asleep. Mystic was snoozing in one of the chairs, all of her tails curled protectively around Kippy, until the little Mudkip could barely be seen under the pile of creamy fur. Silver and Masque were curled up at opposite ends of the couch, and Breeze was perched on the TV, her head tucked under her wing. Only Andy was still awake. He sat in the middle of the couch, between his two Pokémon. He was busy, incessantly polishing and re-polishing five Pokeballs. Occasionally, he would glance up and notice her watching him.

She found herself wondering how Pokeballs worked. She had witnessed captures on several occasions before. One thing was always the same. No matter how fiercely the Pokémon might be fighting a few seconds previously, once they went into the ball and came back out, they were completely docile. She wondered if the balls did something to the Pokémon's minds to make them obedient.

Or maybe the Pokémon were simply already resigned to the life of slavery that awaited them. Maybe they knew that, so long as their captors held their Pokeballs, escape was impossible.

She would never obey a human, that much she knew. If her escape plan failed and Andy managed to get her inside a Pokeball, she would never submit, not like the others so clearly had.

She was jerked out of her thoughts by Andy standing up and putting the Pokeballs down on the table. He walked out of the room, and she listened until she couldn't hear his footsteps any longer.

She stood up, wincing a little as she put her weight on her injured leg. She'd done nothing but lay on that cushion for days. She'd started to go a little stir-crazy, but she felt she'd kept up the deception well, maintaining a façade of docility while planning her escape.

She walked into the kitchen and up to the cabin's back door. She knew from Breeze that it opened by sliding and how to open it. She reared up on her hind legs, wincing again as more of her weight shifted onto her bad one. She placed one foot on the wall to steady herself and slipped a claw into the small indentation on the door. She tried to pull it open. Nothing. It was locked.

She yanked harder despite knowing that it was futile. She fought down the rising panic. Andy had locked the door. It was like he'd _known_ she was going to try escaping that night.

The pain in her leg started to increase, so she dropped back to all fours. She was trapped. As soon as her leg healed, Andy would capture her in one of those infernal balls and begin the process that would turn her into another obedient slave.

"Absol?"

She spun around, careful not to further injure her leg.

Andy was standing in the kitchen right behind her.

"Were you trying to get out?"

She froze. It was the first time she'd felt genuine fear since the night those Zweilous had… He'd caught her trying to escape. Would he punish her for this? What would he do to her?

"Do you need to go out?"

That surprised her. She realized he'd just given her an avenue to freedom, if a narrow one. "Yes," she said.

"Was that a yes?"

She nodded.

Okay, then," he said. "You could have just said so."

He unlocked the door and slid it open. She walked out onto the cabin's deck, forcing herself to walk slowly. She couldn't risk tipping her hand yet.

A breeze ruffled her fur. She missed that feeling. She hadn't been outside since her capture. Andy had fed her factory-made Pokémon Food, which was entirely absorbed by the body, producing no waste products, so he didn't have to go through the hassle of moving a Pokémon who weighed over a hundred pounds and couldn't walk outside for periodic bathroom breaks. Of course, she didn't know this. She thought he was simply trying to keep her controlled by not letting her out.

Andy followed her out and sat down in one of the deck chairs. She stopped at the top of the steps down to the yard and looked at him. He wasn't going to escort her?

"Go on," he said. "I'll keep an eye on you from up here." Then she understood. This was a test. He wanted to see how she would respond to being given a measure of freedom, if she would return to him or immediately run off. Evidently, he felt confident his Pokémon could track her down and bring her back if she ran. She scoffed. He had no idea what she was capable of.

She walked down the steps and into the yard. She headed for a bush and pretended to be smelling it.

She looked up at Andy. He didn't seem to be paying very close attention to her. The forest was so close. _Her freedom_ was so close. She could clear the fence easily and run off into the woods. Even if he did catch up with her, he would never defeat her.

But there was one thing she hadn't considered initially. The splint. How would she get it off? The answer was, she probably wouldn't if she left now. On the other hand, once it came off, he'd probably use a Pokeball on her immediately. He'd have no reason not to.

"Absol?"

She jumped.

"I saw you staring off into the woods. Do you want to go home?"

She nodded.

She glared at him. She was almost certain that his response would be some kind of rant about how she belonged to him and that he would never let her go.

"Well, then, as soon as I take that splint off, you can."

That surprised her. Why was he being so kind to her? Did he think this false promise would help him break her to his will? Or had she been wrong this whole time?

* * *

Andy took the splint off a couple days later. Much to her surprise, he didn't immediately use a Pokeball on her. Instead, he pulled Silver aside. The two of them headed out to the deck. Curious, she followed them. She found them sitting together on the steps.

"What do you think about Absol?" Andy asked. "Would she be a good addition to the team?"

 _She'd be a phenomenal addition,_ Silver answered. _But I don't think she wants to join._

It was telepathy, she realized. That alone didn't surprise her as much as the fact that she could actually hear it. She'd thought that being a Dark-type meant being immune to all forms of psychic manipulation. Apparently not.

"Oh?" Andy asked.

 _She's terrified of being caught, but she's trying very hard not to show it,_ Silver explained. _If you did catch her, I don't think she'd ever be able to see you as anything but a captor._

"I would never hurt her!"

 _She has no way of knowing if you're sincere when you say that. She told me she's seen captures before, and training sessions. Few of the Trainers she mentioned seemed as good at it as you._

"I could never keep her against her will," Andy said with a sigh.

Now she was really confused.

* * *

Later that day, Andy took Kippy down the mountain for a one-on-one training session.

As soon as they'd left, Silver came up to her. "I know you overheard my conversation with Andy earlier," he said.

"How can you even communicate with him?" she asked.

"We've been together for three years. It just happened one day, not long after I evolved from a Kadabra. I guess we finally became good enough friends that it would work."

"I have a really hard time believing you too are friends."

"I know. You think I'm brainwashed."

"Did you just read my mind?"

"You're a Dark-type. I can't. But I can read your body language," he explained. "Andy is a really good Trainer. He doesn't need to do stuff like that. He gave us all multiple chances to leave. He had a couple of other Pokémon, back when we were challenging gyms. When he told them they could leave if they wanted to, they left."

"But you didn't."

"No, we didn't. But you can. He doesn't lie, Absol. If he says you can leave, then you're free to go. When he released those other two Pokémon, he smashed their Pokeballs, did it right in front of all of us so we'd understand that it was official."

"And yet he locked the door on me."

"Only while you were recovering."

"What?"

"Watch." Silver walked over to the back door and pulled it open. He did it without even bothering to put down the things in his hands, which she now knew were called "spoons."

"Don't you ever put those down?" she asked.

"They help me focus my powers. I'm worried if I set them down, I'd forget where I'd left them."

She started laughing.

"What? It's a completely logical worry. Andy forgets where he left stuff all the time."

"Sorry. I just…" She forced herself to stop laughing.

"Anyway, if you want to go, go."

"Won't you get in trouble for helping me escape?"

Silver smacked his forehead.

"What was that?"

"It's a human gesture I picked up from Andy. It's called 'facepalm.' They do it when someone says something really stupid."

"What was so stupid about that?"

"I just finished saying that Andy doesn't do stuff like that."

"Still, I think I'd rather have it from him. I'll stay until he and Kippy get back."

"Suit yourself," Silver said, closing the door.

* * *

She could have kicked herself. Freedom had been right there, and she'd willingly refused it. Was this what had happened to the other Pokémon? Had they been so well treated with Andy that they'd felt compelled to turn down the offer of freedom? If that had been Andy's intent, then that was diabolical. She clenched her claws in the carpet in frustration at the very thought of it, ripping about a few threads as she did.

But then she remembered Silver's words. Two Pokémon had taken the offer of freedom when Andy had given it. So maybe he really did care about his Pokémon.

She was snapped back to reality by a harsh, repetitive, beeping noise. She looked around. It seemed to be coming from Andy's "computer."

The other Pokémon ran over to it almost immediately and clustered around it.

"What's going on?" she asked, walking over.

"The boss is trying to call us," Masque explained.

Silver opened the device and Breeze started tapping the various buttons with one of her claws. "How do you work this thing?" she muttered.

"Stop, stop, stop," Silver said, shoving her away. "I'm the one with opposable thumbs here."

He pressed a couple buttons and it turned on. A couple more buttons and the screen changed to show Andy's face. He didn't look so good. There were cuts, scrapes, and what looked like minor burns on his arms and face. He held Kippy in his arms, and she looked worse. In fact, the little Mudkip was barely conscious.

"Guys, I hope you can hear me," he said. Her eyes widened in the face of this incredible technology. "We've got an emergency. Kippy and I…we were training, and we…there was a Pineco."

He didn't need to say anymore. She'd dealt with Pineco before. She knew how fond they were of Exploding.

"I need you to get the house ready to receive a critically injured Pokémon."

Silver nodded, and then the screen went blank.

"Why is he bringing Kippy here?" she asked. "Don't humans have places better suited?"

"It's too far," Silver said, as the others dashed off to do what must have pre-assigned tasks.

"You know _Teleport_! How can it be too far?"

"Actually, I don't."

"How do you not know the move that all Abra are born knowing?"

"Humans have a technology that lets Pokémon forget their moves. That move reminded me too much of my childhood, and I didn't want it anymore, so I asked Andy to let me forget it. Anyway," he added, "we take in injured wild Pokémon fairly regularly. The cabin has everything we need."

"Not everything," Breeze said, flying down the stairs. "Sliver, we're out of Sitrus Berries."

"Arceus damn it," Silver swore. "We need those berries."

She thought for a second. As much as she was apprehensive about helping a human, she knew full well how needed the berries would be. Kippy had been hurt by an Explosion. She didn't have a status condition; she was just low on energy, possibly fatally low.

"I can get some Sitrus Berries," she said.

"You can?" Breeze asked.

"I know where to find some."

"Go," Silver said, as he opened the back door with his powers.

She shot off, out the door, down the stairs, across the yard, over the fence, and into the woods. She sprinted flat out, as fast as she'd ever gone before. Every muscle burned, but she forced herself to think about nothing but moving faster. The fact that she could run away to freedom and leave them never even crossed her mind.

After about thirty minutes of running, she found a familiar tree. This was where she came whenever she needed healing berries. They were well out of her reach, but she'd figured out a way around that a long time ago.

She pinpointed a berry and fired a very concentrated Ice Beam at the stem. It snapped, and the berry fell to the ground. She repeated the trick with a second berry.

After a moment spent wondering how she was going to get both back, she skewered one on her sickle, picked up the other in her mouth, and started running back.

She cleared the fence with no trouble, and then ran up the back steps and back into the house. Silver had left the back door open for her.

Breeze and Masque cracked up laughing when they saw the berry impaled on her sickle, but she ignored them. Andy was in a back room, tending to Kippy, who lay on a low table, wrapped in a blanket.

She dropped the berry in her mouth onto the table. When Andy saw, he dropped to his knees and put his arms around her neck.

"Thank you, Absol," he said, then pulled the second berry off her sickle.

* * *

After her headlong sprint to bring back the berries for Kippy, she was absolutely exhausted. Any Pokémon would be. So she decided the only thing for it was a nap. She wasn't entirely sure she liked the fact that she now trusted Andy enough to so completely let her guard down around him. When her leg had still been broken, she'd at least had the reassurance that surely he wouldn't waste a Pokeball on a Pokémon who could barely walk, much less fight.

She was startled awake by Breeze's voice coming from the television room.

"Kill him! Whoo, yeah!" it was screaming. She darted out of the kitchen, where she'd been sleeping, and into the other room like a rock shot out of a Rhyperior's hand.

"What the heck is going on in here?" she demanded. Breeze was perched on the back of the couch, eyes fixed on the TV, watching several Flying-types fight over what looked like a small ring.

"Uh, Breeze…" Masque said tentatively, "that's PokeRinger. It's not a contact sport.

"I don't care!" the Staraptor cried, never taking her eyes off the TV. "Yeah, get him."

"It's what?"

"PokeRinger," Masque explained to her. "The premiere sport for Flying-type Pokémon. Breeze's not-so-secret ambition is to be a PokeRinger champion. Andy entered her in a tournament once. She got too aggressive and was nearly disqualified."

"That Taillow asked for it," Breeze countered.

"You didn't have to hit him so hard."

"Guys, I've got news," Andy said, coming out of the back room, Silver beside him.

"What?" Breeze asked, finally turning her attention from the game.

"I called the nurse at the nearest PokeCenter for advice. She says Kippy is going to be fine." He crossed the room to where she was standing, crouched in front of her, and ran a hand through her head fur. "Thanks to you," he said.

He stood up. "I want to keep an eye on her for another day or two though, so you'll all have to entertain yourselves."

Breeze smirked at Masque, who feigned innocence.

"That means no unethical usage of Featherdance."

"Aw, man," Breeze complained.

"Do I want to know?" she asked.

"No," Masque quickly said.

Andy left and headed back to the room where Kippy was recovering.

"That's a relief, anyway," Breeze said.

"Just because she's not going to die doesn't mean she'll recover completely," she challenged.

"What?" Silver asked.

"I heard that, when a young Pokémon is severely injured, they might never evolve, even if they do recover."

"That won't matter for Kippy," Masque said.

"She doesn't want to. Evolve, I mean," Mystic said, speaking up finally. She'd been lying on the cushion, which was apparently hers, and had stayed out of the conversation until now.

At her confused expression, Silver explained. "Did you notice her collar?"

She had, actually, but had dismissed it as simply a mark of subservience.

"The stone in it is called an Everstone. It will keep her from evolving, no matter how much experience she gets."

"So, you mean…"

"…that Andy's okay with her not wanting to evolve? Exactly."

What kind of Trainer would be okay with a Pokémon that didn't want to evolve? Strength was all they cared about, wasn't it? So why would any Trainer _not_ want his Pokémon to be as strong as possible?

She'd been prepared to admit that she'd been wrong about Andy, but now… On one paw, he was a human, a Trainer, no less. He'd snatched Pokémon from their families without thought. But on the other, he was a Trainer who would let his Pokémon go if they wanted to, who took care of injured wild Pokémon without necessarily planning on adding them to his team once they were better, who didn't evolve his Pokémon solely because their evolved forms were stronger.

She realized, with more than a bit of apprehension, that part of her wanted to join the team. Part of her wanted to be free from the constant worry about where her next meal was coming from. Winter was coming on rapidly, and she'd already made one stupid decision out of hunger and desperation.

But the rest of her was still terrified of being caught.

How could she make this decision? She thought for a second. When the answer came to her, she would have, had she had the anatomy for it, "facepalmed" as her own idiocy.

"Tell Andy I want to battle," she said to Silver.

"Against who?"

"Anyone. Everyone. If you can beat me, I'll join the team."

* * *

She faced them in the backyard.

"Are you sure about this?" Andy asked her. "I don't care how strong you are. One Pokémon can't take on my entire team."

She nodded. "I'm sure."

"Very well. Silver, use Dazzling Gleam."

He was trying to go for a quick victory, she realized. He knew an Alakazam was at a type disadvantage against her but was also secure in the knowledge that Silver would outspeed her easily. Unless…

"Sucker Punch," she said and leapt forward, claws wreathed in Dark-type energy. Silver was still gathering energy for his Dazzling Gleam. He tried to dodge, but Sucker Punch always hit, so long as the opponent was using an offensive move.

She slammed into Silver and sent him flying back. He hit the grass at Andy's feet, clearly fainted.

"Dear sweet Arceus, you're strong," Andy said, recalling his first Pokémon. "Let's see if we can't curb that power a little. Mystic, go."

Part of her rebelled against hurting the timid Ninetales, but she forced it down. Battling was part of the life of every Pokémon.

Mystic emerged from her Pokeball. "Use Will-o-Wisp," Andy ordered.

 _Crap,_ she thought, dodging frantically, as Mystic formed several balls of purple fire and shot them across the field.

Somehow, she managed to dodge all of them. She knew that move didn't have the greatest accuracy, but that was lucky, even for her.

She skidded to a stop and sent a current of energy through the ground toward Mystic. Just before it reached the Ninetales, she called the move.

"Stone Edge." The ground cracked and buckled underneath Mystic, sending a point of rock up into her belly. She cried out, more in surprise than anything, and fell heavily to the side.

Andy stared at her in awe as he returned his second defeated Pokémon. "You've never had a Trainer before this?" he asked, incredulously.

She shook her head.

"Well, then, let's see how you do against my tank. Masque, your turn." The Roserade struck a cocky pose as he emerged.

"Use Substitute," came the order, almost immediately. Andy was clearly an experienced battler.

This was a move she'd never encountered, and she almost laughed aloud as Masque was replaced by a pale green plush toy. She wasn't entirely sure how to get around this. Maybe a move that never missed would hit the real Masque.

"Aerial Ace," she said, leaping forward, feeling the familiar sensation of being locked on target, impossible to avoid. Except that the target she'd locked on to turned out to be the plush.

As she jumped back, she saw the plush vanish, revealing Masque, who'd been crouched behind it.

"Double Team, Masque."

Masque's image flickered momentarily. Now, this move she knew. He'd be harder to hit now. Aerial Ace was the obvious choice, but she wanted to try something stronger, to knock him out more quickly.

She took the chance. "Psycho Cut."

Her scythe glowed pink as she jumped at Masque. The move connected, and she felt a jolt of energy as she landed a critical hit. Masque staggered back, not quite defeated. She got ready to end it with a quick Sucker Punch, but Andy recalled him.

"Last Pokémon. Go, Breeze." The sporty Staraptor didn't bother with any theatrics. She just flew in tight circles above the battlefield.

"Use Featherdance," Andy said. Breeze flew across the field.

 _She's fast!_ Breeze offered her opponent no chance to dodge as she shook feathers from her wings. As they landed on her, she gasped as she felt her power draining away. She looked at Andy.

"What kind of move is this?" she asked.

Of course, he didn't understand her, but as the feathers stopped falling she realized that only her physical attacks had been weakened.

"Ice Beam," she said, firing the beam at Breeze. Despite the speed of her target, the move connected. Breeze recovered well, however, and returned to flying circles on Andy's side of the field.

"Breeze, do your thing," Andy said.

"Brave Bird!" Breeze shouted. She dropped low in the air and began skimming along the ground. Her whole body glowed.

 _This would be enough to win,_ she realized. There was only one option remaining to her.

"Sucker Punch!" she cried, leaping forward. She slammed into Breeze, almost knocking the Staraptor out of the air. Initially she recovered, but as she flew back toward Andy, she staggered in the air and was forced to land.

Again, she prepared a Sucker Punch. This time, Andy held up his hand.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you beat me. A wild Pokémon just defeated four of mine."

Andy released the rest of his Pokémon and fished a few items out of his bag. A pair of pale yellow crystals pressed to Silver's and Mystic's bodies brought them back to consciousness incredibly quickly, and she found herself, once again, feeling envious of the Trained Pokémon.

Andy then sprayed something on all of their injuries. Only when all of them were healthy did he turn to her. "Sucker Punch, Psycho Cut, Aerial Ace, Stone Edge, and Ice Beam," he listed. "That's quite the move-set. Except that you shouldn't know three of those moves."

She cocked her head to the side, hoping it would show him that she was confused.

It worked. "Your species can only learn Aerial Ace, Stone Edge, and Ice Beam if taught by a Trainer. At least, usually that's the case," he explained. "You are something special, and a lot of Trainers would want to catch you, myself included, to be honest."

She dropped into a crouch and showed him her teeth.

"But I won't, " he continued. "Our deal was I'd only catch you if I could beat you, and I lost." He crouched in front of her. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

She relaxed.

"But other Trainers may still want to catch you, just because of how strong you are."

She lay down in the grass. He was right. Someone would always want to catch her.

"I think I have a solution, though." He pulled something else out of his bag, a shiny chain of some sort.

"When I first left on my journey, I took one of my mother's bracelets with me, to remind me of home. After three years of traveling, I don't feel like I need it anymore. If you wear this, not only will I be able to recognize you if we cross paths again, but, hopefully, any other Trainers you encounter will see it and think you already belong to someone."

She cringed internally at his use of the word "belong," but it did sound like a good idea, so she let him wrap the "bracelet," as he'd called it, around her left foreleg.

"And the other thing I was wondering, before you leave, do you want a name?"

A name? He had no idea. Having a name would set her apart from the rest of her species. No more hearing someone call "Absol" and glancing over her shoulder to make sure there weren't any other Absol around before she answered.

She nodded enthusiastically.

He scrutinized her for a long moment. "How do you like 'Pandora?'" he finally asked. "It's a name I found in a book once."

"Pandora," she repeated, resisting the urge to play with the syllables. "I like it," she said, nodding in the hopes he would get her meaning.

He did. "Good," he said.

She walked past him and stepped towards the other Pokémon.

"So you're really leaving," Silver said.

"Yes, I am. Oh, don't give me that look," she added. He was looking at her like she'd betrayed him.

"Bye," Mystic said softly.

"See you," Masque said.

"Have fun out there," said Breeze.

"Tell Kippy I said bye," Pandora said.

She jumped over the fence, clearing it easily. Then, with one last look over her shoulder, she ran off into the woods.

* * *

 **AN: Here's the first chapter of Redemption. I don't know how long this story is going to run, or even how it's going to end. As soon as I'm satisfied with Pandora's character arc, I'll stop updating it.**


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